


hey feline, you fetch just fine

by TheLastOfTheRealOnes



Series: skz soft stories T^T [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Hwang Hyunjin is a Sweetheart, Identity Issues, Kim Seungmin-centric, Kind of a hybrid au but not a hybrid au, Or Is he?, Sad with a Happy Ending, Shapeshifting, bc im so soft hearted i cant make my boys suffer, i honestly should be sleeping but im writing this instead, lol, seungmin is a cat, seungmin struggles but hyunjin loves him no matter what, the Rope™ is my favorite character, this is kinda soft and i love it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23942923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLastOfTheRealOnes/pseuds/TheLastOfTheRealOnes
Summary: i·den·ti·ty/ˌīˈden(t)ədē/nounthe fact of being who or what a person or thing is.OrSeungmin has some identity issues and Hyunjin is there to comfort him.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Series: skz soft stories T^T [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714135
Comments: 8
Kudos: 66





	hey feline, you fetch just fine

**Author's Note:**

> this was absolutely inspired by The Cat's Meow from Barbie: Princess and the Pauper and you can't fcking stop me.

If someone had told Hyunjin that he'd live with a shapeshifter, he'd call them crazy. He didn't understand why people wanted to live with part-time animals. Wouldn't you rather just have a pet all the time? But as soon as he met Seungmin (who was looking for an apartment to stay in since the dorms at their college were far too expensive) he understood immediately. 

Seungmin was a cat shapeshifter, a beautiful calico with bright yellow eyes. He and Hyunjin became good friends and Seungmin moved in with the elder boy. After about a year of awkwardly pining after each other, the two decided to start dating. 

Being so close, it was only a matter of time before Hyunjin noticed something was up with Seungmin. He'd often seen Seungmin staring glumly at the ground, as well as out the window. Knowing Seungmin to not usually sit around in favor of doing something, whether that be running around in his cat form or working on something for school. When he'd asked about it, Seungmin had simply said that he was feeling a little down. A few days later he perked back up, which confused Hyunjin even more. But he set his confusion aside since it seemed that Seungmin felt better. 

"Min? What are you doing?" Hyunjin stood in the doorway to their bedroom, hands on his hips. There was a smile on his face as he looked at the shapeshifter tangled up in a heap of blankets on the floor. The poor cat was struggling to get out of the pile, much the Hyunjin's amusement. He decided to take pity on his poor boyfriend and helped him out of the blankets. "You could have just switched, y'know?"

Letting out an indignant yowl, Seungmin wiggled out of Hyunjin's grasp and eyed him from where he sat. Seungmin shook himself and then purred as he bushed against Hyunjin's legs. Tail flicking back and forth, the cat stopped and stared up at Hyunjin, eyes shining. 

Hyunjin smiled as bent down to pick up Seungmin. He scratched behind Seungmin's ear and let out a surprised giggle at the noise the cat made. It was a mix between a meow and a yowl. Seungmin licked Hyunjin's hand and the human stuck out his tongue in mock disgust. "Really? You nasty cat." But he carried Seungmin out into the living room and flopped down onto the couch. 

He turned on a random movie and wrapped them in a blanket. About halfway through the movie, Seungmin switched forms on top of him (which was something he was used to). Seungmin's arms wrapped around Hyunjin's waist and he smiled as Seungmin looked at him fondly. They shared a kiss before going back to watch the movie. Hyunjin noted how dog-like Seungmin looked when his ears perked up at his favorite part of the movie. 

Hyunjin just smiled to himself and turned his attention to the screen. 

~~

Another instance that he noted Seungmin's change in behavior was when he caught the younger watching a cat video. He never really liked doing that before, since he found them weird to watch. And yet there he was sitting at the table, brows furrowed as he stared at the screen. 

Hyunjin tilted his head in confusion as he took a seat next to his boyfriend. "Whatcha watching?" Noting the way that Seungmin's face flushed, Hyunjin let out laugh. He reached his hand up and ruffled Seungmin's hair. "You're an odd cat." He shook his head in amusement as he said that. 

Seungmin just let out a huff and turned away from Hyunjin, arms crossing as a pout took over his features. Hyunjin wrapped his arms around Seungmin's shoulders and leaned his head on the boy's shoulder. He pressed a kiss to Seungmin's jaw as an apology and smiled widely when the boy leaned his head against Hyunjin's with a sigh. Hyunjin hugged Seungmin tighter and grinned. 

"Love you, Minnie."

"Yeah. Love you too."

~~

Neither of these incidents were enough to make Hyunjin take a second glance at Seungmin's behavior. But warning bells went off in his head one afternoon. 

Seungmin was in cat form, sitting on Hyunjin's lap. He was sleeping peacefully when Hyunjin had to get up to make them dinner. Yet when he tried to move Seungmin, the cat just huffed and craned its neck to lick his face. Hyunjin tried to push Seungmin away but the shapeshifter wouldn't budge, sandpaper tongue gently lapping against his cheek. Rolling his eyes, Hyunjin let out a sigh. "You're such a dog!" He said it with a hint of annoyance, though it was mostly a joke. 

Still, Seungmin froze and stared at Hyunjin with wide eyes. Then after a few seconds he shot up off the couch and took off. Hyunjin sat there for a moment, utterly confused. But after he regained his composure, he took off like lightening after his boyfriend. 

He poked his head into each of the rooms and eventually found Seungmin in the laundry room, hiding underneath a laundry basket. The shapeshifter was shivering and actually hissed at him when he tried to move the basket away. Hyunjin pulled his hand back in surprise and watched Seungmin carefully. There was something definitely wrong. 

He decided to take a different tactic. "Minnie? Seungmin?" He watched the cat tense, muscle bunching up. "It's okay. I'm sorry if something I said made you upset. But I don't know _what_ I said. Can we please talk about this?" He hoped to god that Seungmin would talk with him. This was the first big issue that they'd had and he didn't want it to go on for long.

After a few seconds of silence, Seungmin slipped out from underneath the basket and sat down. Another stretch of silence went by before he switched to his human form. Hyunjin felt his heart break at the tears that Seungmin hastily wiped away. 

In a soft voice, Hyunjin said, "Can you tell me why you're upset? I want to know what I did so that we can fix this." He waited for Seungmin to reply, hopeful that this would be over soon. 

Seungmin wouldn't look Hyunjin in the eye as he spoke, voice soft and sad. "You called me a dog." 

"And you didn't like that?" Hyunjin paused, wondering why that specifically had made him upset. It wasn't like it was the first time Hyunjin had joked about Seungmin acting like a dog. But... it could be that he just went along with it because he didn't want to make Hyunjin feel bad... He hoped that wasn't the case. "How come?"

Letting out a whimper, Seungmin brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his arms. "I-it's because it's true!" He started crying, ears flattened against his skull and tail thrashing behind him. The sound of his cries broke Hyunjin's heart even further. 

"Minnie... What do you mean?" But he was confused. It was true? What was true? What did Seungmin mean by that? Hyunjin had to figure this out before he tried to comfort Seungmin. Who knows, he could say the wrong thing and make Seungmin even more upset. 

And yet that's exactly what he did. Seungmin didn't stop crying, even as he replied to Hyunjin. "I-I'm a s-shitty cat! All the other cats I-I've seen like to la-laze around and bat things off of c-counters and catch m-mice and shit like that! B-but I don't want to d-do any of that! I want t-to-" He broke off with a sob. "I want to do dog things! I w-want to chase my tail and f-fetch things and," another sob, "-I want to be a dog!"

Hyunjin sat still, completely dumbfounded. Seungmin wanted to... be a dog? It was a little hard to wrap his head around, but as he thought more about it, it made sense. Seungmin had cat-like traits, but he really did share a lot of doggish personality traits. 

However, Seungmin took Hyunjin's silence to mean that he didn't like what Seungmin had said. So he curled in on himself tighter and started blurting out an apology. "I'm sorry! I know it's w-weird and I shou-shouldn't want to be a d-dog. I'm s-sorry and I d-don't blame y-you for probably t-thinking that I'm disgusting an-" But Hyunjin quickly cut him off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where on earth did you get that idea?" He raised an eyebrow at Seungmin. "Did I say I was disgusted? Did I say I thought you were weird? Or that you shouldn't want to be a dog?" He slowly crawled closer to Seungmin, pulling the younger into his arms. He rubbed comforting circles into Seungmin's skin. 

Seungmin looked at him in confusion, sniffling. "What?" 

Hyunjin smiled at Seungmin and held him closer as he whispered. "I love you, Seungmin. I love you for you. I don't care if you want to be a dog or a cat. Hell, I'd love you even if you wanted to be a platypus." He smiled wider at the giggle he elicited from Seungmin. "And if you wanna do all those things and act like a dog, then I think that's great. I want you to be who you want to be." 

"But it's weird..." Seungmin trailed off, eyes watering again. "I'm a cat shapeshifter. It's weird that I want to do those things." He lowered his head and Hyunjin frowned as he felt tears drop onto his arm. 

"Seungmin, will you please look at me?" 

The shapeshifter kept his head down, shoulders shaking. 

Hyunjin placed a hand under Seungmin's chin and forced the boy to look at him. He then moved it to cup Seungmin's cheek, thumb stroking the soft skin. "You're weird in the best way. If that's what you really want, then that's what you should do. I think it's adorable that you want to act like a dog. I think you'd make the perfect dog." He pressed a kiss to Seungmin's forehead. "So if you want to try being a dog, then try it. I won't ever judge you. I'll always love you, you know." 

Seungmin hiccuped and buried his face in Hyunjin's neck. "You promise?" He mumbled against Hyunjin's skin. 

Letting out a laugh, Hyunjin smiled. "I promise." He pressed a kiss to the top of Seungmin's head. 

~~

They didn't discuss what had happened for a while. And nothing changed, either. Hyunjin wasn't complaining, but he had to admit that he was beginning to get worried. But one day, as he worked on homework at his desk, he felt something hit his leg and he looked down to see Seungmin in cat form, blinking up at him. 

He smiled at the cat and reached down to pet him. Hyunjin couldn't help but adore the way that the cat's tongue lolled out the way a dog's would. Next to Seungmin's paws was a length of rope. It was knotted on both ends and was a toy that Seungmin had gotten as a joke from one of their friends (they didn't have to know that he secretly adored it). 

Picking up the rope in his mouth, Seungmin headbutted Hyunjin's leg. He turned his pleading eyes up to Hyunjin and the elder sighed before grabbing the other end of the rope. Seungmin dug his hind legs into the carpet and tugged on the rope as hard as he could. The two of them played tug-o-war for a few more minutes, before Hyunjin managed to rip the rope from Seungmin. He threw it out the door and down the hallway, Seungmin scrambling to chase after it. 

A few seconds later, Seungmin trotted back into the room, though this time without the rope. He nuzzled his head against Hyunjin's leg and waited until Hyunjin once again turned his attention to his shapeshifter boyfriend. Seungmin let out a "mraw" before flipping over onto his back. He held his paws in the air and looked up at Hyunjin expectantly. The elder rolled his eyes but leaned down and began to stroke the soft fur on Seungmin's belly. 

When Hyunjin straightened and turned back to his work, Seungmin huffed through his nose and righted himself. He climbed onto the spare chair next to the desk and used that to hop up onto the desk itself. He nudged Hyunjin's hand, letting out a whine. Hyunjin sighed and picked Seungmin up. 

He carried the cat into their bedroom and tossed him onto the bed. He then sat down next to the cat and scratched behind his ears. "I had a cute dog in High School," Hyunjin flopped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling with a grin as Seungmin let out a low growl, "-but you're the cutest pup I've ever seen." 

At that, Seungmin shifted forms in the blink of an eye and fell on top of Hyunjin with a huff. "You cheesy idiot." He mumbled as he pressed his face into Hyunjin's chest. He couldn't keep the smile off of his face. Hyunjin was an amazing boyfriend, who cared about Seungmin and made him feel comfortable enough to just be himself around the elder. "You're lucky I love you." 

"Aw, Min, I love you too!" Hyunjin grinned as he wrapped his arms around Seungmin's waist. "And I still think you'd look great in a collar." 

"OW! IT WAS A JOKE! Well, okay, it was a joke at first but now I'm kinda seriou- OW! STOP HITTING ME!" 

**Author's Note:**

> i've been toying with this idea for a while (since sometime last year or maybe the beginning of this year??) and honestly i like how it turned out. i hope y'all like the story too! if you do, pls give it a kudos! comment if you have smth to say (or if u found a typo) and bookmark if u feel like it lmao
> 
> stay safe/happy/healthy and drink lots of water! <3333


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